System of bull testing

Guarantee selection of the best one

Only bulls which successfully passed their own beef performance test can be selected for insemination and natural service in the Czech Republic. This test is performed in specialized and authorized test centers – called performance-test stations (OPB). The mission of these stations is in rearing of young bulls under standardized and unified conditions due to examination of their own performance, and guarantee that only the best bulls from the population will be registered as AI- or stud bulls. This test shall discover their commercial traits, the feed consumption and eventually check of the semen quality. All young bulls must fulfil certain minimum of requirements before their entrance into the rearing station:

• bull and his parents come from a farm involved in performance recording
• breeding values of parents or of the bull are above a certain minimum level
• fulfil at least the minimum requirements for the growth parameters (weight at 120 and 210 days)
• his pedigree is documented and certified.

Those specific requirements depend on the breed. The entrance of these bulls into the rearing station comes after their weaning and their rearing runs in three batches per year. Their nutrition is based on the feeding of roughage and concentrates with regard to their need of nutrients in dependence on the particular breed. The consumption of feed and nutrients is measured and recorded during the test.
Bulls are weighed several times within the test:

• after their entrance into the rearing station
• at the beginning of the preparative period
• at the beginning of the own performance test (+ / - 3 days)
• at the regular monthly intervals
• at the end of the own performance test (+ / - 3 days)

Body measurements (height at hips) are gathered by measuring:

• at the day of the beginning of the test
• at the age of 365 days (+ / - 15 days)
• at the date of termination of the test – scrotum girth

Basic selection takes place after the successful performance test. Bulls are classified and selected according to the selection criteria by a committee of ČSCHMS staff and farmers. They evaluate these traits:

• fulfilment of the breeding standard
• relative breeding value for growth in test
• weight at the age of 365 days
• height at hips at the end of the test
• type classification at basic selection
• average daily gain from the birth to the end of the own performance test
• the special attention is paid to the conformation of feet and legs

The sale of those approved bulls is done in auction, which follow the basic selection immediately.
The conditions for the entrance of a bull into the rearing station, the number of bulls in test, schedule of basic selections and auctions, and other details relating to bull testing are always available on the website of the Association - click HERE.